Honors

To qualify for honors in art history, you must have, at the end of the senior year,
a GPA of at least 3.5 in art history and an overall GPA of at least 3.0. You also
must submit an independent project that the art history faculty judge to be outstanding. The
project must be nominated by a member of the art history faculty and must go beyond
the work required in our regular art history classes. Types of projects that could
qualify include (but are not limited to) senior theses and independent study or internship
projects; they may be written, electronic (such as a website design), or in the form
of an exhibition.

Criteria for honors. The art historians will use the following criteria when awarding honors for a project
in art history: typically it is a single, meritorious project that demonstrates (1)
initiative, (2) focus, and (3) sustained commitment. Additionally, the faculty must
be able to examine substantive materials, whether written or in some other format,
related to the project; normally at least some written documentation and/or analysis
is expected.

Process: To determine whether a project might qualify for honors, students are required to
submit proposal forms (on our website) that briefly describe the nature of the project.
Forms must be submitted to Terri Brandt in the Art History office (Filene 113) by
February 28th of the senior year. Faculty will evaluate proposals for potential appropriateness
for nomination for Honors during their regular monthly faculty meetings, normally
the first Friday of each month. Approval of these preliminary proposals does not
guarantee future nominations for Honors.

Nomination materials: students must submit their completed projects to the faculty member with whom they
are working by May 7 (or December 1, for January graduates).

Nomination for Honors: faculty members (normally those advising the projects) will officially nominate
projects for Honors by May 7 (or December 1, for January graduates), at which time
the entire Art History faculty will evaluate the work. Students will provide the materials
to be assessed; these will be made available to all Art History faculty. Please note:
if you wish your project to be eligible for nomination for the Annual Art History
prize or for other, all-College prizes (e.g., the Palamountain Award, Periclean, Women's
Studies, IA), you will likely need to have it in completed or almost final form by
about April 1.